Moving Forward
by Psycho Weasel
Summary: "They say that change is supposed to be good right? But what if you suddenly don't feel like you're quite ready? What if you just want a little more time?" Those are Tai's feelings towards college. Friendship or Taito/Yamachi. Depends on how you see it.


_**NOTE:** I graduated from high school this past May, and in a couple of weeks I'm going to be starting college (someone please shoot me now...). I realized that a TON of my friends were leaving to go some where else for school and that we might not ever see each other again...so I wrote up this one-shot as a result. :)_

_This story can be take as a friendship relationship or a Yamachi/Taito relationship. Your choice. :3  
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__*Chinese accent* One MORE thing! (If anyone can name that show, I'd love you forever): _I'm dedicating this to my best friend: Seriana-the-nymph. She is pretty much my Matt in relating to this story (once you read on, you'll understand). Thanks for being my best friend Mew. :)  
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_**WARNINGS:** None really...a bit of OOCness maybe...but I tried to keep everything low key.  
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_**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Digimon..._

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><p>A year had passed since the Digidestineds defeated MaloMyotismon and things had certainly changed. There were no longer any evil Digimon to try and take over the worlds, and so the children were on a permanent retirement. The younger team was now slowly starting to make the big change from middle school to high school; while the older kids…they were preparing themselves for college.<p>

Tai sighed as he looked up from the review packet he had been trying to study. Since Tai scored low scores in his math section his junior year, he was put into a lower college math class. However, they were willing to give him a second chance to take another test to see if he had improved at all. The brunette soccer player looked up at the couch. His best friend, Matt Ishida, was reading a book the college suggested the incoming class to read before the year started. Since the two of them were going to the same college, that meant that he too should read the book as well…but Tai easily got bored…like now.

"Matt," Tai whined. The blonde raised an eyebrow, showing that he was listening. "I'm bored of studying." Matt looked over his reading glasses and stared at the boy.

"You know your mom is going to kill you if you don't take that test soon," he warned. "We start college in two weeks and you haven't really studied at all."

"I get too easily distracted," Tai protested as he glanced at the jumbles of numbers once again.

"I can leave then," Matt said.

"I'd get even more distracted without you," Tai sighed. "Can't we take a break or something?" Matt also sighed and closed his book. He took off his reading glasses and stared down at the boy who was lying on the floor.

"Fine," he said. "We can take a short break." Tai grinned as he quickly ran off to the kitchen to grab a snack. "Mind if I check my messages on your computer?"

"Go ahead!" Tai called as he started stacking up on cookies. He entered the living room again and sat next to his best friend, who was looking at his facebook messages on his laptop. He was reading a conversation and started typing to reply. The brunette glanced over his shoulder curiously. "Who are you writing to?"

"Mimi," the blonde sighed. "She has already made it home in the United States."

"Really?" Tai frowned. Matt nodded as Tai took a bite of one of his cookies. "I didn't even get to see her before she left."

"I didn't either. But we'll see her again. Don't worry." Tai silently finished off the rest of his snacks and thought about Mimi. Tai knew that she was only here to see her friends graduate from High school, but knowing that this might have been the last time they'd be able to see her…and she wasn't the only one.

"Sora's leaving too," Tai said. "To that fashion school she wanted to attend."

"Yeah, she'll be leaving in a week."

"We should do something altogether before she leaves."

"What did you have in mind?" The brunette thought for a moment, then grinned.

"How about we go to the llama festival?" Tai suggested. Matt gave him an odd look.

"A llama festival?" Matt echoed.

"Yeah! I heard that it's gonna be this weekend and there will be lots of llamas and stuff!"

"…Leave it to Tai to come up with the most random hangout spots." Tai smiled innocently at Matt and so received a playful shove from his friend. The blonde returned to finishing up his messages, and Tai felt back into thinking about the past. At first, he felt totally fine about moving on to college and on to life. But now that it was actually coming, and his friends were starting to leave…Matt noticed his silent friend and gave him a curious look. "Something wrong Tai?"

"No," Tai lied. "I'm ok." Matt stared at him a moment longer, closed the laptop, and looked at Tai again.

"I don't believe you," Matt said. Tai opened his mouth, then closed it. There was no fooling Matt…they knew each other too well. Tai lowered his eyes and studied his hands for a moment. Matt waited.

"Mimi is gone," Tai finally started. "Joe is going over to the US to study abroad, Sora is leaving this weekend, and even Izzy who graduated early is going off to some fancy school."

"And?" Matt asked. Tai looked up at the blonde.

"Our team is breaking up," Tai said sadly. "We're the only ones left."

"We're not breaking up," Matt said. "I mean, sure, it might be harder to actually get together and hang out and such…but thanks to technology, we'll still be able to keep in touch with everyone." Matt smiled at his friend, but Tai still felt sad. "Besides, weren't you the one who was so ready to get out of high school?"

"That was then," Tai muttered and dropped his gaze again. "Now…I'm not sure…They say that change is supposed to be good right? But what if you suddenly don't feel like you're quite ready? What if you just want a little more time?" Tai bit his bottom lip. "I feel like I'm losing a part of myself…I mean…after all that we've been through, we became so close. I loved being with you guys and you guys were some of the best friends I ever had. You guys were like a second family to me…" Matt watched his friend as a few tears slipped down the brunette's face.

"We really meant that much to you," Matt murmured. Tai nodded and wiped tried wiping the tears away. He heard Matt moving forward and felt his arms around him, giving him a tight hug. "It's ok Tai…" Tai buried his face in the blonde's shoulder and hugged back. The two boys held on to each other for a moment, then Tai pulled away and tried to wipe away the lingering tears.

"Wow, I feel like a big baby now," Tai joked.

"Nah," Matt chuckled. "You just really care about us." Tai sighed and slumped down in his seat. "It's funny though, since my crest is the crest of friendship and yours is the crest of courage." Matt smiled but then frowned when he saw that his friend was still upset. "Tai?" The brunette looked at him. "I'm not gonna be leaving anytime soon." Matt hoped Tai would understand what he meant…which luckily, he did.

"I know," Tai finally smiled. "Thanks Matt." Matt smiled back at his friend and opened up the laptop again.

"You know," Matt said. "I think I know two other Digimon who won't be leaving anytime soon as well. Want to go see them?"

"Yeah!" Tai barked happily. The two boys pulled out their Digivices and Matt finally finished setting up the Digiportal (which took Izzy a _long _time to teach him). Once in the Digital world, they were immediately greeted by their partners Agumon and Gabumon. They decided to go and visit some of the old spots they had gone through during their journey. As they watched the setting sun, Agumon looked up at Tai.

"Tai?" the orange Digimon asked.

"Yeah Agumon?" Tai answered.

"Gabumon and I were wondering if you and Matt were going to leave your homes and go to another school."

"You know, like everyone else did?" Gabumon added. Tai and Matt looked at each other.

"I'm afraid not," Matt answered. "The school we're going to has a pretty good business program, which is what Tai wants to study."

"And it's a good place to get our general education done," Tai nodded. "That's what Matt wants to do."

"Does that mean, you'll leave later Matt?" Gabumon asked.

"Yeah, I guess it does." Tai frowned at the answer. "But that won't be for a couple of years, so I'll still be hanging out with you guys." Agumon and Gabumon nodded understandingly and looked at the setting sun. Tai thought about his best friend leaving him…he couldn't even imagine what it would be like. The brunette looked over at his blonde friend.

"Hey Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"Even though you're thinking of only attending this college for two years…I'm glad that I get to be with my best friend for that much longer."

"Me too, Tai." They smiled at each other, before Matt ruffled Tai's bushy hair. Tai playfully shoved his hand away and turned his attention back to the same sun he and his friends watched together so many years ago.

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><p><em>Growing up sucks...<em>

_So what did you think? Do you love it? Do you hate it? Any comments are helpful to me, but flames aren't and will be used to cook food at "hooters."_ ;)


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